1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device which automatically disables or switches off a cellphone when first or second conditions are respectively present and automatically enables the cellphone when said conditions no longer exist. The first condition is an attempt to operate a cellphone by the driver of a vehicle when its ignition is on or it is moving above a certain speed. The second condition is when a person occupying a seat in various locations such as in an aircraft or auditorium endeavors to use the cellphone.
2. Description of Related Art
Reference is made to the first condition, namely an attempt to use a cellphone by the driver of a vehicle having its ignition on and/or moving above a certain speed. When a call is received, the user picks up the cellphone, looks at the number of the caller on its display panel, and switches on the OK switch of the cellphone in order to receive the call. In a likewise manner, when the user intends to make a call, it becomes necessary for him to press the number buttons followed by the OK switch on the front panel of the cellphone. In both instances, and when such an operation is carried out while the user is driving a vehicle, his attention is diverted from the road and traffic condition. Such a distraction is enhanced when he engages into an ensuing conversation while driving. In fact, several reports reflect a very strong association between traffic accidents and cellphone use by vehicle drivers. Such a danger would also exist, with the provision of facilities like SMS, Multimedia and Internet Access, and Bluetooth® technologies being incorporated in newer generations of cellphones. Thus, several local governments have prohibited the use of cellphone by individuals while driving a vehicle. The ensuing danger of use of a cellphone while driving is recognized in all major countries and similar prohibitions are envisaged. However, even in instances where such prohibition does exist, people tend to violate the rule and continue to use cellphones while driving vehicles, and enforcing the law becomes next to impossible.
Hands free cellphones are known in the art in order to obviate to some extent the danger of possible accidents while driving. However, even the use of such hands free cellphones does not ensure complete safety since the driver still has to operate the OK and CALL END switches of the cellphone upon receiving the call and completion of the conversation respectively, and concentration on conversation can distract the driver's attention, and is known to significantly impair the reaction time of a driver. Thus the use of hands free cellphones also is not allowed in several cases. Even if the use of hands free cellphones were permitted, the proposed system would serve a vital function by blocking the use of a cellphone in the normal mode by vehicle drivers without employing the hands free kit.
The second condition refers to the situation when a cellphone in the on state is carried on the person of an individual occupying a seat in locations such as conference rooms, seminar halls, theaters, or aircraft where cellphone use is to be prohibited.
In the past, several systems have been proposed for regulating cell phone use in different locations and situations. The following four documents are relevant to this connection, and it is in order to outline a brief description of these techniques and their limitations at this point.
JP 11 168767 A (NEC CORPORATION) “D1”: This system has been developed with a view to make communication through a wireless phone system in a moving vehicle impossible. The system incorporates a unit that generates a logic hi or lo signal to denote either the vehicle ignition being on or off or, alternatively, another unit that generates a logic hi or lo when the vehicle speed is high or low. The vehicle condition is subsequently transmitted to the mobile phone via radio waves and its operating mode is controlled as desired. Another alternative mode of transmitting the vehicle condition to the cell phone through infrared signals is also described.
The system has several limitations. Firstly, it makes no provision to control cellphone use in locations other than a vehicle. Secondly, if the infrared mode is employed then an unscrupulous individual can easily block transmission of the blocking command and the operation of the system can be severely compromised. It is difficult to confine the area of influence of radio waves—the other alternative proposed in this document—to just the space occupied by the driver and, therefore, the system is likely to block the mobile phones of the other passengers as well. The system also makes no provision for making emergency calls from a vehicle in motion by overriding the stipulated restriction.
JP 11 285070 A (KOKUSAI DENKI KK) “D2”: The system described in this document also aims at restricting use of mobile phones in moving vehicles with a view to prevent traffic accidents. The system proposes to incorporate in the cell phone a pick up for the vehicle ignition noise. This noise signal is processed through a wave-shaping unit, and the resulting signal is converted into a voltage signal by a frequency/voltage converter to arrive at the engine rpm. In order to eliminate the interference of the ignition noise signals from other vehicles on the highway, the system also incorporates a means of detecting the particular vehicle moving through the electromagnetic field of the communication system and, after comparison with a reference speed to be set up in the mobile phone, arrives at the condition of the particular vehicle as either running or stopped. The system also requires the driver to select a special “DRIVE KEY” for its activation. When the driver selects the DRIVE KEY and the system detects the vehicle in the running condition, the system locks the keyboard of the mobile phone and also sends a message to the caller that the called person is driving a vehicle.
This system also suffers from several limitations. Firstly, the means of establishing the vehicle condition running or stopped is very complicated. Because of the range within which the proposed system in the mobile phone would pick up the engine ignition noise is fairly extensive, it would be picked up by the mobile phones of the other passengers as well. The DRIVE KEY has been incorporated to enable persons other than the vehicle driver to use their cell phones. But a driver can also misuse this provision since by not using this particular key the entire system can be bypassed. The provision to set the speed limit below which the system permits normal mode of communication can also be misused by setting a relatively higher speed up to which the vehicle driver can use the mobile phone in the normal mode. There seems to be no provision for regulating cell phone use in locations other than in a moving vehicle.
EP 1 035 746 A1 (SONY INTERNATIONAL (EUROPE) GMBH) “D3”: This document describes a system for protecting a predetermined area within which a cell phone has to be regulated in a prescribed manner. For this, a mobile station transmits a protection signal that is recognized by any cellphone within the area and the cellphone is made to operate in a particular mode characterized by the signal. The cell phone is restored to its original mode if it is carried outside that area or if a certain prescribed time elapses after the prohibiting signal is received by it. There is a provision for several modes. In some sensitive areas, the high frequency portion of the cell phone may be switched off to avoid the possibility of interference with other sensitive equipment, while, in other areas, it may be put in a silent mode and, in some cases, the suppressed output may even be replaced by a visual or non-audible output. The mobile base station has a unit to generate the protection signal, which is modulated and radiated to cover the desired area. The mobile phones have to incorporate a protection signal detection section and a means to change the mode of its operation. The document covers a large number of alternative wireless systems categorized in terms of the modulation techniques used, as well as different types, of signals employed ranging from broadcast and pager systems, optical/infrared systems, and acoustic/ultrasonic systems, and discusses their relative merits and limitations. The preferred system is based on Bluetooth® operating at 2.4 GHz.
While the system has several features that are advantageous in specific applications like blocking all cell phones with a desired area, it is not practicable to employ it for blocking cell phone use by vehicle drivers, since the system would block not only the cell phones of drivers as well as passengers of vehicles in the zone covered but would also block cell phone use by occupants of offices and residential buildings within the covered area. It would also not be practicable to incorporate in a single mobile phone the various types of protection detection signals described in the document, and only one or two of these say the infrared and the Bluetooth® may be used. As discussed earlier, the infrared can be blocked and the mobile phone can be used, thus bypassing the regulation. Even if a low power jamming station employing Bluetooth® were to be incorporated within a vehicle, it would possibly cover the entire vehicle, thus preventing use of a mobile phone even by the other passengers. There is also some concern about the health-related considerations due to continued exposure to the 2.4 GHz signal used for Bluetooth®.
EP 0 880 296 A1 (NEC CORPORATION) “D4”: This document describes a transmission restricting system comprising a radio communication terminal equipment and a transmission restricting device applicable to a specific area, as well as for drivers of vehicles in motion. The system is based on the generation and transmission of a command code included in a magnetic field pattern at the entrance or exit of an area to command the transmission interruption to a radio communication terminal equipment, as well as that of another command code included in a magnetic field pattern to command the releasing of the transmission interruption to the radio communication terminal equipment also disposed at the entrance or exit of that area. The radio communication terminal equipment comprises means of detecting the magnetic field patterns and interpreting it for interrupting or releasing radio transmission to it as per command. Any radio communication terminal equipment being carried in the prohibited area detects the magnetic field pattern of the transmission interruption controller and interprets the command code to prohibit communication within the area. When the radio communication terminal equipment is being carried out of the prohibited area, it detects the magnetic field pattern of the transmission interruption release and interprets the command code to enable communication in a normal mode outside that area. For regulating use of a radio communication terminal equipment by the driver of a vehicle being driven above a certain speed, the magnetic field pattern of the transmission interruption controller is set up in the area of the seat of the driver and, thus, the radio communication terminal equipment cannot be used by the driver of a vehicle under these conditions. At the same time, the magnetic field pattern of the transmission interruption releaser is set up around the remaining seats in the vehicle, enabling the navigator and other passengers of the vehicle to use the radio communication terminal equipment under the same conditions.
The most attractive feature of this system is obviating the need for continuous transmission of the transmission interruption signal in sensitive areas, like hospitals. But while the system is positively driver specific in blocking radio communication in a moving vehicle allowing the other passengers to talk, it exposes the driver as well as the other passengers to the magnetic fields of the transmission interruption controller and the transmission interruption releaser continuously all through the duration of a journey. This is undesirable from the point of view of health of the occupants of vehicles. The system is also a very complex way of realizing a vehicle driver specific system for blocking cell phone use, while enabling the other passengers to use cell phones in a moving vehicle. The system would also be susceptible to malfunction due to distortion in the magnetic field patterns if any object having ferromagnetic material in it is kept in the vicinity of the poles of electromagnets installed for setting up of the desired pattern of magnetic field.
The four documents cited in the Search Report and in the PCT Examination Report have been reviewed in the foregoing section. Some limitations of these have also been briefly outlined. The jamming system of D3 prohibits cell phone use in a specified area by making use of high frequency signals that are considered to be a health hazard and cannot be employed for blocking cell phone use by drivers of vehicles in motion without also blocking use of cell phones of every other user in the area falling with the range of the transmitter of the blocking signal. The other three systems also make use of radio transmission for blocking cell phone use in vehicles. Since radio transmission is difficult to be confined to a small area, the systems described in the cited documents are inherently not capable of being vehicle driver specific. In fact, the system described in D4 attempts to solve this problem by resorting to the artifice of creating a specific magnetic field pattern around the seat of the driver for setting up a transmission interruption space, and another distinct field pattern to set up a transmission interruption release space around the seats of the other occupants of the vehicle.